Wizard Ace Edition #16: Marvel Comics #1 #16
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWizard Ace Edition #16 brought the single most historically significant issue in Marvel's lineage—Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939)—back into readers' hands in an era when the original was wholly inaccessible to most collectors. The 1939 issue marked the public debut of both the android Human Torch (Carl Burgos) and Namor the Sub-Mariner (Bill Everett), the two characters who anchored Timely Comics' Golden Age publishing program and whose DNA runs through the entire Marvel Universe that followed. By wrapping those foundational stories in a new painted acetate cover by British artist Glenn Fabry—himself a prominent figure in 1990s comics—Wizard signaled to a generation of modern-age readers that these Depression-era creations were worthy of serious canonical attention. The Ace Edition program as a whole helped normalize reprint culture in the direct market and introduced key-issue literacy to a readership that had grown up primarily in the post-1980s era.
In "The Human Torch," a 1997 Marvel Comics story from Wizard Ace Edition #16, a young boy named David survives a plane crash in the Belgian Congo, witnessing his parents' deaths at the hands of Paul De Kraft. Raised in the wild by his father’s teachings, David eventually becomes Ka-Zar, the lord of the jungle and brother to a lion whose life he once saved. Written by Ben Thompson and Bob Byrd, with art by Thompson and inks by Thompson, the story unfolds with a grounded, character-driven intensity. The cover, by Glenn Fabry, captures the raw edge of this origin with striking detail.
In a 1997 tale from Wizard Ace Edition #16, the Human Torch—Horton’s volatile invention—becomes the centerpiece of a dangerous game when the cunning Tony Sardo and his ally Red seize control, turning the device into a weapon of chaos. With Mr. Harris caught in the crossfire, the line between creator and destroyer blurs as the torch’s power spirals beyond anyone’s grasp.
In a story rooted in ancient grudges and rising tensions, Prince Namor confronts the legacy of his people’s suffering as he grapples with the surface world’s past. With the lives of those he cares for—Chip Anderson, Rod Nelson, and Carley—hanging in the balance, the fate of Atlantis and the surface realm teeters on the edge of war.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Wizard Entertainment (Gareb Shamus Enterprises) launched its Ace Edition line in 1996, running through 2005 and ultimately producing 33 issues; each entry in the series paired a full reprint of a landmark comic with an all-new two-part cover—one on card stock, one on a transparent acetate overlay—by a contemporary artist. Issue #16, cover-dated April 1997 and co-published with Marvel under editor-in-chief Bob Harras, selected Marvel Comics #1 as its subject, making it one of the earliest entries in the line to tackle a pre-Silver Age Golden Age book. Glenn Fabry, best known at the time for his painted covers on Preacher, provided both the acetate and interior cover art; a signed variant was also produced with a Wizard Certificate of Authenticity. The reprint itself reproduced the stories from the 1939 Timely issue, including the eight-page Sub-Mariner segment that had originally been prepared for the never-distributed promotional comic Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Reprints the complete contents of Marvel Comics #1 (Timely Comics, October 1939), the first comic book published by the company that would become Marvel Entertainment.
- Contains the first published appearance of the android Human Torch (Jim Hammond), created by writer-artist Carl Burgos; in the story he is built by Professor Phineas Horton, bursts into flame on contact with oxygen, and eventually vows to protect humanity.
- Contains Namor the Sub-Mariner's first appearance before a general newsstand audience (Bill Everett); the opening eight pages of the Sub-Mariner story were recycled in color from the never-publicly-released Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1, with a new conclusion added for this issue.
- The Sub-Mariner story introduces Namor's supporting cast including his mother Princess Fen, his grandfather Emperor Thakorr, his human father Leonard McKenzie, and the Atlantean characters Dorma and Quog.
- Also reprints the first Ka-Zar comics story (adapted from the 1936 pulp 'King of Fang and Claw'), introducing young David Rand who becomes Ka-Zar alongside jungle companions Zar the lion, Sha, Chaka, Trajah the elephant, and N'Jaga the leopard, with villain Paul de Kraft.
- Additional original content includes the first appearance of the Angel (a costumed vigilante, in 'The Six Big Men') and the first Masked Raider story (a Western hero).
- New cover art—both the card-stock interior cover and the transparent acetate overlay featuring the Human Torch and depicting Namor and Ka-Zar—was entirely painted by Glenn Fabry and exists in a signed variant with a Wizard Certificate of Authenticity.
- This issue was co-published by Marvel Comics and Wizard Press (Gareb Shamus Enterprises, Inc.) with Bob Harras serving as Marvel's editor-in-chief; the Ace Edition line ran from 1996 to 2005 and ultimately comprised 33 issues, each pairing a key-issue reprint with an acetate overlay cover by a prominent contemporary artist.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Marvel Comics #1 (1939)
Reprinted in Marvel Comics #1: 80th Anniversary Edition #[nn] (2019)
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